J. Chris Leach is the W.W. Reynolds Capital Markets Chair and the former Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Professor in Entrepreneurship at the Leeds School of Business within University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Leach received his Ph.D. in finance from Cornell University and began his teaching career at the Wharton School. He has served as a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon, the Indian School of Business and the Stockholm Institute for Financial Research (at the Stockholm School of Economics). His teaching experience includes courses for undergraduates, M.B.A. and Ph.D. students, and executives. A former Graduate Professor of the Year, Dr. Leach has received multiple awards for M.B.A. teaching excellence. Dr. Leach's research on a variety of topics has been published in The Review of Financial Studies; Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis; Journal of Business; Journal of Accounting; Auditing and Finance; Review of Economic Dynamics and Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. His business background includes various startups dating back to the 1970s. He has also consulted in areas of business and strategic planning advising, valuation and deal structure for early-stage and small businesses. He is a faculty sponsor for M.B.A. teams that have qualified for twelve international championships for the Venture Capital Investment Competition, and he is a faculty advisor for the Deming Center Venture Fund.
Ronald W. Melicher is Professor Emeritus of Finance in the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He earned his undergraduate, M.B.A. and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. While at the University of Colorado, he received several distinguished teaching awards and was designated as a university-wide President's Teaching Scholar. A former president of the Financial Management Association, Dr. Melicher has taught entrepreneurial finance at M.B.A. and undergraduate levels, corporate finance and financial strategy in M.B.A. and Executive M.B.A. programs and investment banking to undergraduate students. While on sabbatical leave from the University of Colorado, he taught at the INSEAD Graduate School of Business in Fontainebleau, France, and at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. He has delivered numerous university-offered executive education non-credit courses and has taught in-house finance education materials for IBM and other firms. Dr. Melicher has given expert witness testimony on cost of capital in regulatory proceedings and provided consulting expertise in the areas of financial management and firm valuation. Focusing on mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings and the financing and valuation of early-stage firms, his research has been published in such major journals as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and Financial Management. In addition, he is the co-author of INTRODUCTION TO FINANCE: MARKETS, INVESTMENTS, AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT.
